


Bad dreams (Klaus helps Five in the middle of the AM)

by ClaraCivry (Kat_Of_Dresden)



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, Guilt, Nightmares, Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Protective Klaus Hargreeves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:20:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28924218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kat_Of_Dresden/pseuds/ClaraCivry
Summary: Five has a bad dream. A very bad one.Klaus helps with the aftermath, is there and actually offers some comfort.A nice moment between Five and Klaus.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 3
Kudos: 91





	Bad dreams (Klaus helps Five in the middle of the AM)

It was not the first time, and it would not be the last - in fact, it was becoming a regular thing, something biweekly at the last, sometimes almost daily.

Klaus went down from his bedroom in the middle of the night, because a ghost awoke, because he couldn't fall asleep, or because terrible dreams have woken him up. Sometimes he didn't even wake in his bed, sometimes he was flying, sometimes on the other side of the room, sometimes he was outside and didn't at all remember getting out.

It'd been a long time since he last had something that resembled a decent sleep schedule, but being taken by Hazel and Cha cha and then Vietnam screw things up even further. And while with the Destiny's children... Well, he could do whatever the fuck he wanted, which usually included a fair amount of chaos and little to no structure.

So now that they were in the mansion in the right timeline, most of them together to try and make up for lost time and be able to defend each other if anyone attacked, Klaus thought he would be the only one awake at this all hours of the night. At least the only one around (Diego was sometimes awake too, but not at the house, but doing rounds through the city, whatever that meant) in this pit of darkness and silence that was their home in the small hours of morning.

But more and more often, there was someone else there.

Someone who really could use the sleep, but seemed to have as many or even more problems than he did.

"Hey, Fivester. You doing good?"

Five did not look good, at all. Five looked haunted, he looked frail and exhausted in a way no one in a body that age should be even capable of showing. He was often there, awake, with a cup of coffee too. Sometimes he couldn't sleep, sometimes he was awoken by bad dreams, sometimes he didn't even want to think of going to bed because of all the horrors it brought.

Tonight, it must have been something quite serious, as the hand that had the coffee mug was shaking quite badly. And Five was not someone with a bad pulse - hell, Klaus had seen his brother stitch up cuts with an accuracy and preciseness that many surgeons would envy. But tonight...

His breathing was loud and his eyes were bright, and Klaus knew that no matter how much he wanted to complain about this Egyptian ghost he could not for the life of him understand, Five's night had been worse. They usually were - he'd been through much worse, much worse than any of them. None of them had it easy... but none of them grew up isolated in a wasteland, either.

It was a wonder that Five was as functioning as he was, considering that. Although he wasn't functioning much now.

"Five, pal? You with me?"

There was a lost look that Klaus knew quite well, and he wanted to do something about it. Five already had kept so much pain to himself, always going, having to keep going, saving everyone, taking the blows without stopping, without hardly complaining, and he was carrying around with him way too much.

"Bad dream?" Klaus asked. Even if he had no answer, he wanted Five to know that he was there, that he cared, that he understood. "They can get tiresome."

Five didn't say anything, but looked at him with big bloodshot eyes and Klaus felt was left of his heart break even further. They had mocked Five for his lack of social skills, and the guy could be arrogant, but he also felt so much, so intensely, KLaus knew. And he hadn't been nice and tender, but they hadn't been super loving with him, either. And he... Five had been through so much shit, being adopted into this abusive asshole's superhero fantasy, getting stranded in a wasteland, being manipulated into murdering and then having to prevent two apocalypses, back to back.

"If.... if you see him could you tell him that I'm sorry?"

"Who?"

"Elliott."

"TV shop guy? From the sixties?"

"I got him killed. He was kind to us, he opened his house, fed us, housed us... And I got him killed."

Aaaah, not guilt. Guilt stuck to your skin and made everything more horrible, everything bitter.

"I know I didn't kill him and that is not technically my fault, but..." he sighed.

Klaus decided to let his brother talk a bit more before pitching in. Sometimes being listened to was as important or more than the comfort.

"And you too, Klaus, gosh I'm so sorry - I... I got you tortured - I.. Hazel and Cha cha, I don't know exactly what they did to you, but I... I've the bad end of the commission and on the bad end of their tactics and... You went to war, you... Lived through horrors, were shot at, lost people and came back with scars that may stay with you forever, I, Klaus...."

The mug in Five's shaky hands was about to fall and break into a million pieces.

And it the facts were that it was true, Klaus had gone through an absolute ordeal after Five came back, and his brother had been the reason he was taken. But Klaus was not bitter about it - he didn't blame Five. What had happened, happened, and he'd lived through it. Better that than having to find the body of his recently returned brother.

And Five had made all he could to minimise side damages, Klaus knew. He remembered from when they were kids, just how dedicated he was to everything - he tried optimize efforts, find the best strategies, find ways so Ben wouldn't have unleash the horror. It was true that no one listened to him much (he was only number Five, after all) but he had the ideas, and the notion to think things through.

And he had to have been dedicated and conscientious to have survived in an apocalypse by himself for that long, and to remember who he was and come back to them after all that, the years of isolation and then the indoctrination at the commission. But Five thought things through, so Klaus was fairly certain that whatever damages they received, had been stuff that was completely out of the time traveller's control.

On the flip side, being able to think that much probably meant that Five saw that, although it wasn't his fault, he'd been a factor a factor in a lot of shit that had happened to them. And it seemed that he'd been handling it well... But maybe he'd just been hiding it, like he hid all his wound and scars. Poor lonely Number Five, always too busy saving the world to give himself a break.

"See, here's the thing, Five - nothing is black or white. I obviously didn't enjoy my time with your assassin buddies, but-"

"Maybe Luther and Diego were right, when they said that everything goes to hell when I show up, maybe without me, everything would be better and-"

Klaus stopped him, took the mug of already cold coffee from his shaking hands and just looked at him. It wasn't like Five to be so lost, so broken... But without a world to save all the shit that he'd done and had been done to him was catching up, and it was not pretty. Well, this time, unlike every other time in the last four decades Five was with someone that actually cared about him, and wouldn't let him hurt himself further.

"Enough, Five. I want you to listen to me, ok?" Klaus was using his calmest, gentlest voice, not wanting to sound commanding but trying to convey that this was important. It wasn't that often that he was serious, but that situation demanded it.

"Five, you're not... a burden, or a curse on any of us, okay? You've caused us some trouble, yeah, but you've also given incredible gifts - things that we wouldn't have known if you hadn't been with us. I...went to war because of you, yes, but I also met the love of my life, and, after a childhood of being called useless and a waste of space, after years of believing myself to be garbage, I was revered as a god, Five.

And my... community may not have been the healthiest place, but I got a lot of love, and the children loved each other too, and it was a... lovely experience that I would have never lived without you. I would have just continued to be an addict, and then recovering, and then falling back again.

Your... involvement actually gave me a chance to grow, to make things I never thought I would have done, to live outside of the shell of numbness I'd been in for so long. And Allison? You should have seen her when we met in the 60s, she was so proud of having achieved things for herself, being part of a movement, something that mattered... You gave her that, too, and that lovely husband of hers.

And you, and your ends of the world brought us back together - for so long, we'd been practically strangers being miserable by themselves. No we get to have each other to be miserable with. Without you we probably wouldn't even be breathing. You're not a curse, you're not a burden, and, I for one, am very glad that you keep coming back to us, even with all the... danger it brings.

So don't cry, and don't apologise to me, Five. I don't blame you, and I do think that the good that I received was much more than the bad - so there's no need to feel bad. Come here, come on."

Klaus opened his arms, needing poor broken Five to accept the embrace, the comfort, the warmth and the genuine love he had to offer. Maybe if he were more simple-minded he would blame Five for everything, it would definitely make everything much simpler, but he knew all too well that things were never that easy, and that Five's situation before finding them had been full of coercion and very bad shit.

Five accepted, with some reluctance, but wanting to feel the body heat after his very bad dream, needing something to anchor him to reality, to this here and this now. Klaus was it, apparently.

He also had something else to say. 

"Also, Elliott says that thank you for appreciating his coffee, that you don't have to be sorry and that the days we were there with him were the absolute most fun he ever had, and his fondest memory."

Five's eyes smiled, feeling strangely relieved. 

"He does?"

"Indeed. Apparently no one else could appreciate the full body of his blend like you? I don't know, coffee stuff. The important thing is that these horrors are not on you, that you have nothing to be sorry for and that you should sleep soundly, especially after saving the world and all of us in it several times."

Five looked at his brother, quite surprised.

"When did you get so wise, Klaus?"

"Oh, but I have always been, a fountain of knowledge. You just weren't here to enjoy it." he smiled. Five almost smiled back, not quite but there was a shadow of something nicer in his eyes. "Why don't you go to the couch, hum? I'll bring you more coffee, and you can tell me about that chess strategy."

Five nodded, and left.

By the time Klaus came back, after taking his sweet time with their drinks (on purpose) (they could both use some time to breathe, to get calm, to let good parts sink in) Five was already fast asleep in the couch, looking more peaceful than he'd looked in a while. Klaus left the coffee, put a blanket on him, tucked him in.

"Sweet dreams, brother. You deserve them - you've earned them."

**Author's Note:**

> This ended up being so weird??? Idk
> 
> Would love to hear your thoughts!
> 
> You know you want to comment ;)


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